1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hoppers that contain a supply of paintballs for delivery to a paintball launcher or weapon that delivers the balls of paint that explode upon impact.
2. State of the Art
In the game or sport of paintball, a participant has a paintball launcher that is activated by the participant to launch a ball of paint at a notable speed (e.g., about 150 to 200 feet per second) so that it can be likened to a bullet or similar projectile. Paintballs are generally spherical with a skin having paint therein. The skin is flexible and can break (explode) on impact.
The launcher is sometimes referred to as a marker and may be likened to a gun or similar weapon because it has a barrel and a trigger. The paintball is positioned in a chamber and may be launched or ejected from the chamber by operating the trigger to port high pressure gas to urge the paintball down and out the barrel. In order to provide an automatic fire or a repeater feature, a paintball hopper or reservoir is associated with the launcher to supply paintballs on demand in a one by one sequence to the chamber from which the paintballs are launched. U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,454 (Bell, et al.) illustrates and describes one such hopper which has a mechanism to agitate or stir the paintballs in the hopper to eliminate a jam as the paintballs move toward a discharge from the hopper for supply to the launcher. An infrared sensor notes the absence of a paintball in a supply tube to the launcher and sends a signal to operate the mechanism to agitate or stir the paintballs in the hopper and in turn eliminate any jam.
A hopper formed to enhance deflection of incoming paintballs and at the same time count paintballs and provide the user with time information is not known. A hopper configured to count paintballs passing to the launcher is also not known.
A hopper for dispensing paintballs to a paintball gun has a reservoir with a reservoir discharge formed in it through which paintballs exit. The reservoir is sized to receive and retain a plurality of paintballs preferably in selected or desired amounts such as 200 paintballs. The reservoir is shaped for directing movement of the paintballs by gravity toward the reservoir discharge.
A transfer conduit has a proximal end connected to the reservoir discharge to receive paintballs from the reservoir discharge. The transfer conduit has a distal end formed for connection to a paintball launcher. The transfer conduit is sized and shaped for supplying the paintballs in one by one sequence to the launcher for ejection or launching by the launcher. Preferably, the transfer conduit is a tubular structure having an inside diameter selected for the passage of one paintball at a time therethrough.
A counter mechanism for counting each paintball moving through said transfer tube is attached to the transfer conduit. The counter mechanism 34 has a power supply for supplying electrical energy to the several components that are electrically operated. An on-off switch is positioned to be operable by the user and configured to interconnect the power supply to and to disconnect the power supply from components of the counter mechanism. The counter mechanism also has counting means positioned to extend into the transfer conduit to operate between a first position in which no paintball is present in the transfer conduit proximate the counting means and a second position in which a paintball is passing proximate the counting means in transit from the proximal end toward the distal end of the transfer conduit. The counting means is configured to supply detection signals reflective of the presence of each transiting paintball.
The counter mechanism also includes interface means connected to the power supply to receive electrical energy and to the counting means to supply electrical energy. The interface means also is connected to the counting means to receive the detection signals. The interface means is configured to generate count signals reflective of or for the passage of each paintball through the transfer conduit.
The counter mechanism also has control means connected to receive electrical energy from the power supply. The control means is also connected to the interface means to receive the count signals. The control means is configured to process the counting signals and to supply image signals reflective of the count of paintballs passing through the transfer conduit.
The counter mechanism preferably has a timer for generating and supplying time signals reflecting time measured from a reference. Timer controls are positioned for operation by a user and connected to supply timer control signals to activate, deactivate and reset the timer to a reference time which is preferably zero time.
An LCD display is positioned for observation by a user of the launcher and is connected to receive the image signals from the control means and the time signals from the timer. The LCD display is configured to convert the image signals to visually perceivable images reflecting the count of paintballs passing through the transfer conduit and to convert the time signal to a visually perceivable image of time. In alternate arrangements, the time shown may be actual chronological time or elapsed time.
Preferably, the counting means is a flexible potentiometer having a proximal end secured to the wall of said transfer conduit and a distal end extending into said transfer conduit for contact and deflection by a paintball transiting from the proximal end to the distal end of the transfer conduit. In a more preferred arrangement the reservoir includes agitation means positioned in the hopper proximate the discharge. The agitation means is connected to the power supply and operable to agitate paintballs in the reservoir to facilitate movement of the paintballs into the transfer conduit and in turn through the discharge.
An alternate embodiment of a hopper for dispensing paintballs to a paint launcher includes a reservoir having an interior, and an exterior. A reservoir discharge through which paintballs exit the reservoir is formed into the interior to receive paintballs and to pass them into a transfer conduit attached to extend away from the hopper for connection to the paintball launcher. The reservoir is sized to receive and retain a plurality of paintballs. The interior is shaped for directing movement of the paintballs by gravity toward the reservoir discharge. The exterior of the hopper is shaped to enhance deflection of a paintball having a trajectory toward the paintball hopper.
In a preferred arrangement of the alternate embodiment, the reservoir has a first cross section spaced from a second cross section. The second cross section being formed to be larger than the first cross section with the first cross section being oriented away from the user in use and the second cross section is oriented toward the user in use. Most preferably, the hopper has a nose with faceted sides extending backward therefrom to a large diameter which is about where the transfer conduit extends away from the reservoir. The hopper is also formed with an ornamental design as shown and described.